John Shields (explorer)

Private John Shields (c1769–1809) was, at about 35 years old, the second oldest member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and its oldest enlisted member. Shields, born in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, moved at about 14 years old to the wilderness of Tennessee, helped build and lived in a family fort that provided protection from Native Americans, traveled with Captain Meriwether Lewis, Second Lieutenant William Clark, and Native American Sacagawea to the Oregon Coast where he helped build Fort Clatsop, and then returned to St. Louis, Missouri. At the completion of this great adventure Shields hunted and trapped with the famous American pioneer Daniel Boone.

Shields was born about 1769 Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. He was born in what was then Augusta County, but is now Rockingham County, Virginia. He was one of twelve children of Robert Shields and Nancy Stockton. Robert and Nancy Stockton Shields are known as the "Parents of the Ten Brothers." Richard, David and William were all elder siblings, followed by John himself, James, Joseph, Arnett, Ezekial (who did not survive his first year), Benjamin, Joshua and Robert. Janet, the only daughter, married Joshua Tipton. Their son, John Tipton, became a Brigadier General and later a US Senator for the state of Indiana. In about 1784 the Shields family moved from Virginia to what is now Sevier County, Tennessee, and settled on the south side of the French Broad River. John and his brothers helped his parents to build Shields Fort, which is located where modern day Pigeon Forge is, near where the Dollywood theme park currently stands. Some of the cabins found in Cades Cove near Pigeon Forge were also built by the Shields family.

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